Top video sharing platforms to publish your videos

With video content still rising in popularity comes the need for reliable and flexible websites to share videos in a fast and secure environment. The list is vast and there are many from which you can choose, so we compiled a selection of the current top video sharing platforms to save you some time and guide you towards choosing the option that works for you best.

What are video sharing platforms?

Just as their name suggests, video sharing platforms are websites allowing creators and businesses to publish their content and share it at the click of a button. Depending on the type of content you publish and what your goals are, there are many available websites to choose from with both free and paid plans. Before you settle on one, consider the nature of the videos you want to publish: Vimeo is a great place to share short and long creative films and documentaries, while YouTube is well known for its broader, highly varied content and as of the recent years has improved its live streaming services too, in case Twitch doesn’t meet your needs and criteria.

Monetization represents another aspect worthy of consideration. If your aim is to receive revenue from your videos, you’ll have to look for platforms that offer that possibility and what guidelines are imposed in order for you to successfully and safely make and receive your money. DMCA and copyright claims can be strict, so it’s very important to know which websites allow the use of such content if you want your videos to contain, for example, songs from famous artists in the background. 

Since watching videos plays a considerable part of our online activity, brands all over the world recognized the potential of such content and have been investing into video marketing plans. With video formats being supported by many websites, including social media ones, they are a great tool to have in your product’s advertising campaigns. 

While looking into video sharing websites you might have come across online video hosting ones, which play a different role in the process of publishing your video content. Video hosting platforms such as Flowplayer, Jetpack and Wistia let you upload your videos to their cloud storage, a safer alternative for hosting and backing up your files than external drives. Another key advantage of video hosting is the ability to retain viewers on your website instead of redirecting them to another one, which can happen if your video is  embedded from YouTube, for example. There are both free video hosting sites and paid platforms available, but we will let you know more about them in a future article.

Let’s take a look at a selection of websites providing free online video sharing services to see how they differ from one another, what they offer and how to use them to successfully upload and share your videos. Here are some guidelines you should follow if you would like to:

1. Upload videos to YouTube

The most famous video sharing website, YouTube allows its users to share their videos with almost no technical limitations, aside from the maximum file size of 128 GB and the duration of one video going up to a maximum of 12 hours. Already 17 years old, YouTube facilitates sharing and embedding your video content across the web, but beware that it only provides its users with a very limited range of video customisation options, therefore you should edit your YouTube videos beforehand and upload them once finalized. It also still is the to-go platform for uploading movie trailers and music videos and whether you want to share live streams, vlogs, reviews, tutorials, lectures, news, branding videos to promote your company, music and many other types of content (within the limits of decency), YouTube is and will most likely keep being one of the best and the most well-known platforms which allows you to do so, for free.

2. Upload videos to Vimeo

Famous for its longevity on the market, clean interface and great services, Vimeo is a very popular choice for sharing videos. In contrast to YouTube, Vimeo focuses on individually or studio and brand created videos such as short films, animations or documentaries among others. Bear in mind that its free plan only offers up to 500 MB with a maximum of 10 file uploads per week, so if you consider building an audience on and through Vimeo, you might want to take a look at their available paid plans to see which option would accommodate your needs best. If that is not a possibility for you, you can always compress your video online to make sure it stays within the required parameters. 

3. Upload videos to Twitch

Famous for revolutionizing the online live streaming environment, Twitch is currently the most well-known streaming platform for creators all around the world. Much like YouTube, who has been its direct competitor in recent years along with Facebook when it comes to live streams, Twitch is responsible for many of the big names on the Internet today. Ninja, xQc, Pokimane have made it on the platform and use it to live stream and host their VODs on Twitch or, alternatively, on YouTube, where they also regularly share edited video content from Twitch. The website is completely free to use, with the exception of optional additional paid features which can help enhance the streaming experience for both you and your viewers.

4. Add videos to Facebook

As a social media website, many people post various types of videos on Facebook such as personal day to day life events, ads and commercials, inspirational and informational videos and more. Through Facebook you can share videos both on your personal timeline or on a business page you own, provided that they don’t go over 10 GB in size and 240 minutes in length.  Facebook is great if you want to share or promote your creations, thoughts and ideas and receive immediate feedback on them with high engagement from your peers or audience, who benefit from a set of tools to help them express their opinions.

5. Add videos to TikTok

Available only on Android and iOS mobile devices, TikTok lets its users share videos online as the website keeps growing in usage and popularity. A key feature of TikTok is its incentive to collaborate with the people watching your videos, who can record and attach their own to yours to create even more interesting content and help promote creativity. While the maximum video lengths it supported were 15 seconds, 30 seconds and 3 minutes, the platform recently announced the introduction of videos up to 10 minutes, which will surely change its file upload size capping at 287.6 MB for videos and 500 MB for ads. TikTok comes with an integrated video editor, but if you’re looking to enhance your video editing process and make it fast and reliable, we recommend that you edit your TikTok videos online.

That being said…

If you are looking into creating videos you will also need a great video editing tool. So, why not give Flixier a try? It’s free, easy to use and can help you create any type of video you need for websites like YouTube, Twitch, Facebook, TikTok and Instagram. Our cloud powered rendering technology will help you save a considerable amount of time and effort while editing your videos for free with a vast set of tools suited for all of your video editing needs.

Thanks to Flixier’s direct cloud integration with video sharing platforms, you can post your videos within minutes (or by following a schedule set by you) without having to waste time on downloads and uploads.

We hope our article will help you decide which video sharing websites suit your needs and desires best and we wish you good luck on your path to creating and sharing your ingenious ideas!